Tag Archives: organizing

Putting Away Christmas Lights

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I usually wait until the feast of the Epiphany to take down Christmas decorations in our house. It all goes smoothly, especially the Christmas lights. I learned this trick from my sister-in-law, who probably learned it from her parents. Guessing my father-in-law.

Stashing the Christmas lights doesn’t take fancy spools or contraptions. All you need to do is a little back-and-forth, alternating sides with the lights. This will create a nice bundle out of a jumbled strand of lights. The plug side of the strand will be long enough to wrap around your bundle… and then hook up with the other side of the strand. Voila!

How to Store Christmas Lights

How to Store Christmas Lights

Reorganizing the Ribbon Stash

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I had a quick project to finish using ribbons, so of course, I reached for my ribbon bin. I didn’t have to do much to open the lid; it practically popped open by itself… like one of those trick cans with the springy snake! And here’s why:

Umm... can we say mess?

Boing! You’re laughing, right? Tell me you are… please. Well, it bugged me enough that I felt compelled to do something about it. I know lots of crafters use ribbon racks, boxes with grommets for their ribbons, or even curtain rings as ribbon holders. Instead, I had visions of mini fabric bolts in mind.

Turning ribbons into mini fabric bolts

I thought I’d cut pieces of cardstock, or try to find little scraps to use as my “bolt center”, but I grabbed a box of tags. Perfect. With a little adhesive on a tag, I tacked down one end of ribbon and just kept turning.

Ribbons stash is tamed

Voila! Much nicer. I also wound up some leftover fabric strips that can be used for projects or gift wrapping. (I know I’ll never make that crazy quilt.) And, underneath all that stuff, I found some more ribbon and fibers still on their packaging. Used, I’ll have you know… not still with the tags and taped up.

Got a storage idea to share? I’d love to hear from you.

Cleaning out the Closet and a Drawer

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We have a giant front closet in our foyer, and I’ll admit, it’s long overdue for a little better organization. I think I cleaned it out over one year ago. Before I knew it, the coats had somehow magically multiplied with hand-me-downs and seasonal additions. I was sad that there was hardly any room for guest coats.

So, a little trip to IKEA (we love it there), a few purchases and time to sort…

…and voila! There were so many coats and sweatshirts that weren’t being worn because 1) they’re too small, 2) they’re too big or 3) they don’t belong to us. A few things have since found new homes and other things are being packed away for future use. We’re planning on converting a lot of our clothes hangers to wooden ones, just a little at a time.

Think our dry cleaner will be happy with my little hanger donation? The plastic ones will find a home in the laundry room in the meantime.

Onward to the kitchen where you’d think we might keep our plates in the top cabinets… nope, not us. For accessibility sake, we have our plates in the drawers below where pots and pans are sometimes stored.

I had bought four of these plate holders three years ago, but was short two. I just kept forgetting to buy them over the last few years.

Kiddie plates just stack with everything. I love, love, love these holders. Minimal or no assembly, plates don’t rattle, they all have their places. It’s awesome.

(FYI: I have not been paid, given product by, or asked by IKEA to advertise or “plug” their products. This is simply a post about products we like.)

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